Telescoping stand jack

ABSTRACT

An improved telescoping stand jack having a base standard and at least one telescoping cylinder extendible thereabove, with both being provided with travel and detent slot patterns accommodating selected, discrete positionment of stop pins. In a preferred form of the invention the detent slots of the intermediate cylinder are spaced more closely than those detent slots of the base standard, this so that a wide range of adjustment can be had with a minimum of effort. An upper threaded shaft is employed in the combination for finalizing height adjustment. A series of alternately selectable fittings are provided the jack to perform a variety of respective support functions. Improved ratchet means are employed for rotating the threaded shaft for such final adjustment, as desired.

Unite Sttes Lee aterat [191 [451 Mar. 11, 1975' 1 TELESCOPING STAND JACK[75] Inventor: George W. Lee, Rangely, C010.

[22] Filed: Mar. 18, 1974 [2]] Appl. N0.: 452,197

[52] U.S. Cl. 254/98, 248/354 P, 248/354 S [51] Int. Cl B66f 3/08 [58]Field of Search 254/98-1-03,

254/l33.l, DlG. 4, D16. 1; 248/354 P, 354 S; 74/579, 578

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 154,687 9/1904 Germany 254/131] PrimaryExaminerOthell M. Simpson [57] ABSTRACT An improved telescoping standjack having a base standard and at least one telescoping cylinderextendible thereabove, with both being provided with travel and detentslot patterns accommodating selected, discrete positionment of stoppins. [n a preferred form of the invention the detent slots of theintermediate cylinder are spaced more closely than those detent slots ofthe base standard, this so that a wide range of adjustment can be hadwith a minimum of effort. An upper threaded shaft is employed in thecombination for finalizing height adjustment. A series of alternatelyselectable fittings are provided the jack to perform a variety ofrespective support functions. lmproved ratchet means are employed forrotating the threaded shaft for such final adjustment, as desired.

10 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures TELESCOPING STAND JACK The presentinvention relates to improved telescoping stand jacks and, moreparticularly, to a new and improved stand jack which, by its structure,provides for ready coarse adjustment as to height to approximate theverticaljack dimension needed, with remaining fine adjustment beingsupplied by screw thread means.

In the past, many stand jacks have been devised of a telescoping nature,but these generally required extended periods of handling manipulationso that the requisite jack height needed could be reached.

In the present invention, plural telescoping cylinder membersincorporate respective detent and travel slot patterns so that a readyextension of telescoping members to the rough height needed can be made.A screwthreaded adjustment is provided for the final adjustment needed,and ratchet means is provided such screw-threaded adjustment to effectthe same, both under free travel and load conditions.

The improved ratchet means as shown and described will operatesatisfactorily for turning the threaded shaft in the desired direction,and this without the usual extensive machining costs that are involvedin connection with existing ratchets.

Means are provided for reducing to a minimum the likelihood of accidentor the accumulation of foreign matter between telescoping surfaces. 1

Accordingly, a principal object of the present invention is to provide anew and improved telescoping stand jack.

A further object is to provide a telescoping stand jack having at leasttwo and perhaps a series of telescoping members which are provided withrespective detent and travel slot patterns accommodating rough jackadjustment, the final adjustment being made by provided screw threadmeans.

An additional object is to provide a support fitting and, therewith, aseries of load bearing engagement members.

A further object is to provide ratchet means for the screw-threadedportion of a jack so that said screwthreaded portion can be easilyrotated in either direction and by novel means and inexpensivemanufacture.

The features of the present invention which are believed to be novel areset forth with particularity in the appended claims. The presentinvention, both as to its organization and manner of operation, togetherwith further objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood byreference to the following description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation, partially in section, of one embodiment ofstand jack according to the invention.

FIG. 1A is an enlarged fragmentary section taken along the line 1A1A inFIG. 1.

FIGS. 25 are side elevations of various load support members that can beused with the stand jack of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged horizontal section taken along the line 66 in FIG.1.

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6 but illustrates the ratchet means asbeing connected for opposite revolvement.

In FIG. 1 upright standard 10 includes a horizontal support base 11 and,welded thereto, a centrally upstanding base cylinder 12. Base cylinder12 includes a slot pattern 13 comprising travel slot 14 and a series ofdeclining detent slots 15. If desired, an exterior cover plate C, theperiphery of which is shown in dotted lines,

may be included to cover this travel slot so that the slot pattern areawill not be open to childrens fingers or for the entrance of foreignmatter.

Intermediate cylinder 16 telescopes within standard 10 and itselfincludes a slot pattern 18 comprising travel slot 19 as well as a seriesof depending detent slots 20. Intermediate cylinder 16 also includes pinmeans 17 which, as seen in FIG. 1, is disposed in a respective one ofthe detent slots 15 of cylinder 12 and which extends radially outwardlyto so engage such slot pattern. A corresponding reaction pin 22 isassociated with upper cylinder 21, and its outward orientation isclearly illustrated in FIG. 1A wherein the pin 22 com prises, forexample, an Allen screw which is threaded in threaded aperture 22A ofupper cylinder 21. The pin means, as to both elements 17 and 22, maytake any one of several forms; it is desired, however, that the pinelement be threaded into the wall of the respective cylinder.

It is thus seen that the intermediate cylinder 16 includes not only theslot pattern but also, therebelow, the radially outwardly extending pin17.

Upper cylinder 21, in addition to including the reaction pin, 22, isprovided with an interior threaded portion I which receives the threads24 of manually rotatable threaded shaft 23. Upper, load-bearing supportportion 26 may be provided with a spring-loaded check ball 27 forreceiving a selected attachment member 28.

Member 28 will be chosen in design to support a given load. Thus, as toFIGS. 1 and 2, the attachment member 28 includes an inverted cup 30supporting plate 29 welded thereto; the combination likewise may includean annular recess 47 for receiving ball 27.

Alternative forms of the attachment member are shown in FIGS. 35. InFIG. 3 attachment member 31 is provided with an angular support member34 supported by suitable webs and a plate structure P, the same alsoattaching to the inverted cup 30. In FIG. 4 an alternate attachmentmember 31A is shown to include an arcuately curved member 35 supportedby webs 32 and attached to the inverted cup 30 as before mentioned.

In FIG. 5 the arcuate attachment member 318 shown therein includes notonly the plate 33 and inverted cup 30 but also an upstanding spike 36.The structure may be welded together, and the spike serves forpenetration into a log or rough lumber.

In FIGS. 1, 6 and 7, it is seen that a ratchet handle 37 is provided.The same is preferably made of spring steel such that the inwardlyturned ends 38 and 39 thereof may be urged resiliently outwardly. Suchinwardly turned ends include respective, straight and chamfered ends 41and 42 as seen in FIG. 7. The ratchet means engagement portion 25 ofthreaded shaft 23 include, between portions 46,- a series of radial boredepressions 43 arranged in quadrature, such bores having chamfered orrelieved camming edges as at 44. These chamfered edges serve as cammingsurfaces to force the chamfered end 41 outwardly into revolving ratchetring 45 as the ratchet is turned as hereinafter described. v

A ratchet ring 45 is provided and is supported in and retained in placeby C-rings C fitted into conventional grooves in shaft 23.

Thus, and as to operation, it is noted that when the handle is lifted upfrom its essentially vertical position as shown in FIG. 1 to ahorizontal position as shown in FIG. 6, then the ratchet ring can beturned by the handle being moved in a clockwise direction as shown bythe arrow in FIG. 6. During such turning the inwardly pointed endapproximate surface 41 engages the bore wall of portion 25 so that thethreaded shaft 23 may be correspondingly rotated. it is noted that asthe handle is returned in FIG. 6 in a counter-clockwise direction,

preparatory to a new ratchet-turn stroke, that the camin either aclockwise or a counter-clockwise direction,

and this from a single operator position.

While it is permissible that the ratchet engagement portion 25 may takeanother form or may simply be engageable by an end wrench or crescentwrench, it is believed that the present construction is not onlyinexpensive but highly suitable for this operation wherein the ratcheteffect can be obtained merely by supplying the resilient ratchet handle37 in combination with the remainder of the structure as shown.

Turning to FIG. 1, it is to be noted that highly preferred in theinvention is the respective slot pattern feature such that the upperdetent slots of slot pattern 18, relative to the intermediate cylinder16, are more closely spaced together than the declining detent slots ofslot pattern 13. This is so that the base standard can provide arelatively coarse incremental adjustment of the jack, the middle slotscan provide a smaller or intermediate adjustment of jack height, leavingonly a small movement to be accomplished relative to the threaded shaft23 as performed by ratchet handle 37.

The end result is a jack that is very easily manually manipulated bybeing extensible where both pins 17 and 22 are in their respectivetravel slots 18 and 19. Further, the declining positionment of thedetent slots makes possible a rapid pulling-out or extension of thesections of the jack. Thereafter, the intermediate and- /or uppercylinders are simply rotated slightly such that the respective pinsengage the desired detent slots. Accordingly, there will be, finally,only a very little threaded adjustment needed with respect to manuallyrotatable threaded shaft 23 in order to bring the upper support surfaceof attachment member 28 to the lower surface of the load to besupported.

While particular embodiments of the present invention have been shownand described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art thatchanges and modifications' may be made without departing from thisinvention in its broader aspects, and, therefore, the aim in theappended claims is to cover all such changes and modifications as fallwithin the true spirit and scope of this invention.

I claim:

1. An improved telescoping stand jack including, in combination, astandard having a support base and a base cylinder centrally upstandingtherefrom, an intermediate cylinder telescoping within and extensiblefrom said base cylinder, an upper cylinder telescoping with respect tosaid intermediate cylinder and having an interior threaded portion and aradially outwardly extending reaction pin, a manually rotatable threadedshaft threadedly engaging said upper cylinder interior portion andprovided with upper load bearing support means, said base andintermediate cylinders each being provided with respective slot patternscomprising a longitudinal travel slot and a series of mutually spaced,declining detent slots contiguous therewith, said intermediate cylinderincluding pin means disposed beneath said slot pattern thereof andpositioned within said slot pattern of said base cylinder, said pinmeans of said upper cylinder being linked to said slot pattern of saidintermediate cylinder.

2. The jack of claim 1 wherein said pin means is contained within saidslot pattern of said base cylinder.

3. Structure according to claim 2 wherein a cover plate is affixed tosaid base cylinder and disposed over said slot pattern thereof.

4. The jack of claim 1 wherein said threaded shaft includes an upper,ratchet means engagement portion, said jack including handle means forreleasably engaging and thereby selectively rotating said ratchetengagement portion.

5. Sructure according to claim 4 wherein said handle includes inwardlydirected extremities one of which is chamfered.

6. The jack of claim 1 wherein said threaded shaft includes an upper,load-bearing attachment receiving portion, said jack including aload-bearing fitting disposed upon said portion.

7. Structure according to claim 6 wherein said fitting includes aload-bearing portion and an upwardly oriented spike.

8. Structure according to claim 6 wherein said fitting includes adepending cup and an upwardly concave angular member supported by andaffixed to said cup.

9. Structure according to claim 6 wherein said attachment membercomprises an inverted cup and a horizontal plate secured to and abovesaid cup.

10. An improved telescopingjack stand including, in combination, pluraltelescoping members comprising a series and having respective means formutually, releasably detent positioning said members, an upperscrewthreaded member threadedly supported by and operatively engaging anupper one of said series, load supporting means upstanding from saidscrew-threaded member, and ratchet means for revolving said screwthreaded member, said ratchet means comprising a U- shaped, resilientlever handle having inwardly directed ends, said screw-threaded memberhaving plural radial bores selectively receiving said ends, and a ringmember rotatably mounted about said screw-threaded member and over saidradial bores and journaling said

1. An improved telescoping stand jack including, in combination, astandard having a support base and a base cylinder centrally upstandingtherefrom, an intermediate cylinder telescoping within and extensiblefrom said base cylinder, an upper cylinder telescoping with respect tosaid intermediate cylinder and having an interior threaded portion and aradially outwardly extending reaction pin, a manually rotatable threadedshaft threadedly engaging said upper cylinder interior portion andprovided with upper load bearing support means, said base andintermediate cylinders each being provided with respective slot patternscomprising a longitudinAl travel slot and a series of mutually spaced,declining detent slots contiguous therewith, said intermediate cylinderincluding pin means disposed beneath said slot pattern thereof andpositioned within said slot pattern of said base cylinder, said pinmeans of said upper cylinder being linked to said slot pattern of saidintermediate cylinder.
 2. The jack of claim 1 wherein said pin means iscontained within said slot pattern of said base cylinder.
 3. Structureaccording to claim 2 wherein a cover plate is affixed to said basecylinder and disposed over said slot pattern thereof.
 4. The jack ofclaim 1 wherein said threaded shaft includes an upper, ratchet meansengagement portion, said jack including handle means for releasablyengaging and thereby selectively rotating said ratchet engagementportion.
 5. Sructure according to claim 4 wherein said handle includesinwardly directed extremities one of which is chamfered.
 6. The jack ofclaim 1 wherein said threaded shaft includes an upper, load-bearingattachment receiving portion, said jack including a load-bearing fittingdisposed upon said portion.
 7. Structure according to claim 6 whereinsaid fitting includes a load-bearing portion and an upwardly orientedspike.
 8. Structure according to claim 6 wherein said fitting includes adepending cup and an upwardly concave angular member supported by andaffixed to said cup.
 9. Structure according to claim 6 wherein saidattachment member comprises an inverted cup and a horizontal platesecured to and above said cup.
 10. An improved telescoping jack standincluding, in combination, plural telescoping members comprising aseries and having respective means for mutually, releasably detentpositioning said members, an upper screw-threaded member threadedlysupported by and operatively engaging an upper one of said series, loadsupporting means upstanding from said screwthreaded member, and ratchetmeans for revolving said screw threaded member, said ratchet meanscomprising a U-shaped, resilient lever handle having inwardly directedends, said screwthreaded member having plural radial bores selectivelyreceiving said ends, and a ring member rotatably mounted about saidscrewthreaded member and over said radial bores and journaling saidends.